Gynecologist and Bladder Infection?

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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-25-2003
Gynecologist and Bladder Infection?
1
Tue, 08-26-2003 - 8:04pm
Hello. This may be a dumb question, but can a gynecologist help with a bladder infection? I'm going to the gyn because I've been experiencing pain during sex. I also have a bladder infection (and have had one off and on for a few months now). I've been to several doctors (general practice) and a urologist twice. They put me on antibiotics for a while, the infection goes away, only to return soon after I am through with the antibiotics. I try to drink a lot of water, cranberry juice, etc. Anyhow, I just thought I might be able to kill two birds with one stone while at the gynecologist?

Thanks!

Kris

 

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-22-2002
Wed, 08-27-2003 - 7:37am
The key to bladder infections is prevention. Your gynecologist would likely also prescribe antibiotics for you to take, just as your other doctors have, because that's the only way to get rid of a bladder infection. My gynecologist does treat bladder infections routinely.

A few things: If you're going to the doctor and giving them a urine sample, make sure they're sending it to a lab for a culture (takes 48 hours), not just checking for the presence of bacteria. Without a culture, it's impossible to confirm that the antibiotics that you are taking are going to be the most effective at getting rid of the infection. If the infections are coming back within a few days or a week of getting off the antibiotics, this could be the problem.

As far as prevention goes, cleanliness is truly next to godliness. The infection is caused by bacteria from your digestive system that is present around your anus. That bacteria, during sex, can easily be transported to and massaged into the urethra, where it migrates up to the bladder and sets up a nice little breeding ground in the lining (why it hurts). Left untreated, the bacteria can migrate up the ureters to the kidneys, which is bad news and earns you a trip to the hospital for some IV antibiotics.

The most basic way to fight this is to urinate immediately after sex, some people also suggest urinating before, but I just can't do both. For some people this is enough. If you're already doing that, try taking a shower and washing your nether regions thoroughly (some people prefer not to use soap down there, I use it liberally) before sex. Another after-sex procedure--start super-hydrating. Drink enough water so that you're peeing several times within the next couple of hours to really flush out your bladder.

Cranberry juice, unless it's 100% *cranberry*, is probably not going to help as much as you'd like. Most cranberry juices are sugar water with a little juice, the 100% juice types are often a little bit of cranberry blended with grape juice, but a 100% cranberry juice is going to be TART. So I take cranberry pills, available in the herb sections of many pharmacies (Wal-Mart and Osco are where I've gotten mine), four capsules each day. The cranberry interferes with the bacteria's ability to adhere to the lining of the bladder. Vitamin C will also make your urine acidic so that bacteria can't reproduce as quickly, but acidic urine also burns on the way out, so be careful not to take too much.

Also avoid positions that might be more likely to move bacteria from *behind* you to the front of you. A suggestion might be not to go from a rear-entry sort of position back to missionary--the part of him that's been closest to your anus would then be closest to your urethra, and that's just bad news.

I hope that helps! If you did nothing else, just start super-hydrating after sex. If the bacteria doesn't stay in the bladder, it can't attach to anything! Good luck...

Judie

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